Merseycats Jam Nights continue to be the most successful in the Merseyside area
In the past few weeks we have have had performances from the highly acclaimed Trez Fez, specialists in the music of Django Reinhardt. Also an appearance by one of the North West`s leading Hard Rock bands Retrospect.
Retrospect Live at Merseycats
Trez Fez at Merseycats
Photographs courtesy of Colin Eaton
Merseycats T shirts "Deep In The Heart Of Texas "
Avid Merseybeat fans and musicians Jamie Leasing and Lowell Fowler proudly wearing their Merseycats T shirts
in Ray Hennig`s " Heart of Texas " store in Austin ,Texas.
Ray`s was once the favourite hang out of Blues Legend
Stevie Ray Vaughan. Jamie and Lowell are Jammin` Buddies of Merseycats Secretary John Clucas.
Tickets have just been announced for what is to become an annual event at the
famous Casbah Club in Liverpool. The Saturday sessions are to run as a joint venture with
MerseyCats raising money for Children's Charities. Tickets are £20 per session plus 2.50
P&P.
Show1 - SATURDAY THE 28th AUGUST
2010 (Day) 12.00pm to 6.00pm
This event is a joint venture with MerseyCats.
The Pete Best Band plus top Liverpool sixties groups. Line up to be
announced.
Show 2- SATURDAY THE
28TH OF AUGUST 2010 (Evening) 7.00pm - 12.00am
The Pete Best Band plus top sixties groups.
Line up to be announced.
Tickets £20.00 (plus 2.50 P&P)
Merseycats Present Twinkle House With a Cheque for £2,000
Thursday March 4th 2010 was another hugely successful night at Merseycats.
Over 120 friends and supporters turned up to help Anne Dickson celebrate her 21st Birthday. Anne`s favourite musician Paul Kappa was there to play along with many other Merseycat regulars. As well as the Birthday celebrations there was also the presentation of cheques for £2,000 each to Claire House and Twinkle House by Wally Shepard, Kay Shepard and John Clucas on behalf of Merseycats.
Many thanks to all those involved in helping Merseycats do what they do BEST.
The Karl Terry, John Frankland, Brian Jones Super Group
The Ultimate MerseyCats Super Group with Karl Terry on
guitar and Vocals, John Frankland (The Dominoes),
Brian (Sax) Jones (The Undertakers) ably supported by
Bill Good (The Undertakers) on bass, organiser of the night Colin
Woodruff (The Claytons) on drums, Frank Hopley who travelled
all the way from Essex on keys and Alan the guitar on...yes you've guessed it
guitar.
"Need Your Love So Bad" - The Bumblies
Steve Maloney of the Bumblies features on lead guitar and
vocals. He also did the washing up later on.
"Folsom Prison Blues" - Alex McKechnie
Alex McKechnie organiser of the Mathew Street
Festival on Vocals and Guitar ably supported by Mal
Price (Winner of "Stars in their Eyes" as Paul McCartney) on bass
and "Josh the brief" with some great guitar.
"Bad Case of Lovin' You" - Tempest
Beryl Prescott and Tempest putting everything into
this great number from the 80s.
Marconi Days
Ian Howe has sent us some video of the early days at the Marconi Club. See if you
can recognise the Cats in their earlier incarnation.
Tempest In Cologne
Here's a video of Tempest at the Hard Rock Cafe in Cologne with Baz Davies on
vocals filling in for Dave Myers who was unavailable.
Historical MerseyCats
Researching through the stacks of material I've accumulated for my new site
Liverpoolbeat I've come across a couple of Merseycats occasions you might
like to see.
Shortly before his untimely passing in 2005, Chris
Curtis of the Searchers performed at Cats with an all star band. You might recognise
Chairman Wally Shepard on bass, Terry Fisher on Guitar
with Arty Davies on drums and Mal Jefferson on
guitar.
Ex WebMaster David Bedford Launches New Book
We received this email from David last week and would encourage all MerseyCats to
support Dave's great piece of work. I hope to do an in depth review over the next few weeks.
Dear Merseycats,
After over 9 years, my book is finally completed, and
publicity will be starting very soon. So, I am contacting friends by email first to give you a
quick advantage if you want to purchase a copy for yourself, or for a Christmas present,
before they go on general release.I spoke to Wal and I'd like to bring some
copies up next week if I can - 26th Nov - and then anyone can purchase one if they like. I
intend to donate a copy to Merseycats which can be raffled with all the proceeds going to
Merseycats.The book features Kay and Wally,
plus a story from Flo, as well as Merseycat members like Mike
Rice and Dave Peacock among others, plus Merseycats gets a few
mentions which will hopefully raise the profile a bit.The book,
"Liddypool: Birthplace of The Beatles", is the first Beatles book written
solely about The Beatles and Liverpool, and has received some incredible reviews which left me
gobsmacked!
"The best Beatles book I have seen in 20 years" says Bill
Heckle, Director of Cavern City Tours and organiser of the annual Beatle Week
Festival, Liverpool .
"Having been a Beatle for two years and not professing to be a Beatle
historian, to me this book is totally enlightening." former Beatles drummer Pete
Best, who also wrote the foreword to the book.
"At last Liverpool has the Beatles book it deserves. 'Liddypool' has
been lovingly assembled, diligently researched and lavishly illustrated. Casual browser and
avid fan alike will discover something they didn't already know about the world's most
documented quartet. I'd pay the cover price for the pictures alone." Steve
Turner, author of "A Hard Day's Write"
"It's great to see a book from an author who is trying to sieve his
way through all the various myths, legends and half-truths and paint a realistic picture of
what really happened." Rod Davis, The Quarrymen
"The depth of David Bedford's research is unprecedented. This is a
fascinating, valuable and devoted piece of detective work which will appeal to any fan of the
Beatles." Janine Ross, Marketing Manager, The Beatles Story
Ltd.
Liddypool can be bought online. If you want more information about the book, look at my
website at www.liddypool.com or you can buy direct from www.beatlesshop.co.uk . Post and Packing is free, and you can pay by credit/
debit card, cheque (payable to Mrs. A Bedford) or cash through Alix's online beatlesshop. You
can leave any special instructions e.g. if you're local and want to pick it up or have it
dropped off etc. The book is £35 in
hardback. Please don't feel under any obligation to buy one (or 2 or 3 or
more!), as I won't take offence and I realise it isn't a cheap £5
paperback... Hope you enjoy it. David
Faron Recovers Well
Pleased to report that Faron has recovered well from his operation and is now
home.
During the fabulous Mathew Street weekend at the
Hard Days Night hotel in August, I had the pleasure of meeting the famous Beatles
photographer Bill Zygmant. Bill started his career working for the London Star & News
Chronicle on the picture desk. In 1961 he joined the East London Gazette as a photographer and
then went on to become a photographer with a leading picture agency covering show biz events.
In 1964 Bill went freelance and sold pictures & stories to National and International
newspaper & magazines including many of the Beatles.Bill is now a freelance photographer holding
exhibitions of his Black/White pictures taken in the 60s of stars including the Beatles,
Hendrix, Bee Gees and other icons. Bill's photographic art was chosen for the Hard Days night
Hotel and the "Zygmant Suite" where The
MerseyCats performed was named, in his honour. Bill has recently had an exhibition at the
National Portrait Gallery in London and you can see more of Bill's work on his website.
Bill has kindly donated a signed print as a raffle prize for the benefit of the charity
and I understand the prize will be part of our special Christmas raffle.
Secret Band CD Finally Revealed
Yes folks, the secret is out. The Secret MerseyCats Band is non other than Sam
Hardie and George Eccles who have produced a great CD using
George's amazing recording desk with just guitar and piano, with the boys adding the other
instruments in the final mix. The CD is available as a limited edition of 100 at £6 with £1 going
to the charity.
Here's a taster of the album which I think will surprise many people with its versatility.
George on Fuzz Guitar, now that's what I call progress. The CD is available at MerseyCats or from
www.liverpoolbeat.com.
The Domino Effect - 53 Years On - Volume 11
"Live" At The Cavern
Recordings on site at the Cavern itself over the years have been few and far between, due
to the fact that the original place proved to be an acoustical nightmare. Read On.
Skinnie Minnie - Lee Curtis
Latest Videos (To be Played Loud)
Kappa At Cats
Ian Howe has kindly sent us some video of the amazing Paul Kappa performing at
Cats in 2008 and the even more amazing Ian on Drums.
First Rushes of the MerseyCats Film at the HDN
As you may know I arranged for a German film to come over and film our exploits
at the Hard Days Night Hotel during the Mathew Street Festival. The film crew interviewed many of
the Cats and I have been asked what happened to the film footage. Well Ly the Film Director has
emailed me to say that the film production which is mainly about the 60s and in particular bands
with a connection with Germany, is still ongoing and hopefully be finished early next year.However,
she has promised to send some pre production pieces over in the meantime, and here is the first
one, yours truly and Chairman Wally Shepard talking about the purpose of MerseyCats and a little
bit of its history. I l know you Cats all want to see your ugly mugs on film but you'll have to
wait a little longer.
The MerseyCats Video Player
We now have over 60 videos
uploaded to You Tube You can click on any video to
see a larger version in You Tube and if you haveReal
Playeron your PC you can
download them to your PC.
A Friend of John Banks has been in touch
As the
MerseyCats website continues to reach more people
across the globe, we are getting some interesting information through. The
latest is an email from Ko Kantorowitz who spent some
time with John when he lived in Israel.
I've reprinted the email on John's
page together with a picture of a young Ko with John. Read
on...
STOP PRESS: More
pictures of John just received
Searchin at The Hard Days Night
Hotel
Searchin performing at the HDN.
Visit Searchin's web site Click
here
Derian House Appeal
"Sometimes its impossible to take on board the emotional turmoil
involved in the death of a child - perhaps because we simply find it too painful to
consider"
Wally has asked me to give a
special acknowledgment to
Keith of Shooter who provided all the kit for the
show and to extend his congratulations to Ricky Gleason & The
Topspots, Shooter,
Tempest and TheBumblies for
putting on a show that was a credit to all those involved.
Bands from MerseyCats
playedFriday 14th
August in
Ashton-in-Makerfieldto support
theDerian House
AppealChairman Wally Shepardasked a number of bands to support the
charity not as a MerseyCats official
event but as a gesture that we will support a cause if we can. The Bands gave
their time free of charge or expense
and we understanda considerable
amount of money was raised on the night.I agreed to
participate w hen I learnt that having
raised the funds for a new building to house
children who are nearing a premature end of their lives,
the IR in their wisdom decided to charge VAT
on the building costs, which has left
the charity with a need to
raisea further six figure
sum.So if any of our readers can
spare some money, please support this hugely importantcause which receives very little statutory
support (equivalent to 4 days operating
costs per year). Send your donations to The Appeals Office, Derian
House Children's Hospice, Chancery Road, Astley Village Chorley PR7
1DH.
The
sixties were turbulent yet exciting years. A new book looks at the days when our
city led the way in music and style. It was the decade that really put Liverpool on
the map. You name it, we had it, the Mersey Sound, Z-Cars, two football teams at
the top of the pile, a Prime Minister all of our own.
[more...]
Betty
Edwards the lovely wife of the late great Ian
Edwards ofIan and The
Zodiacs has been kind enough to let us have some
never before released photos of Ian and Betty in Germany reliving those Halcyon days of
yesteryear
After over 9 years, my book is finally completed, and
publicity will be starting very soon. So, I am contacting friends by email first to give you a
quick advantage if you want to purchase a copy for yourself, or for a Christmas present,
before they go on general release.
During the fabulous Mathew Street weekend at the
Hard Days Night hotel in August, I had the pleasure of meeting the famous Beatles
photographer Bill Zygmant. Bill started his career working for the London Star & News
Chronicle on the picture desk. In 1961 he joined the East London Gazette as a photographer and
then went on to become a photographer with a leading picture agency covering show biz events.
In 1964 Bill went freelance and sold pictures & stories to National and International
newspaper & magazines including many of the Beatles.
The MerseyCats Video Player
